FATEGARH CHURIAN (Gurdaspur): Our rich heritage mirrors our glorious past. From monuments and paintings to traditional art, India has a stockpile of historical wealth that needs to be treasured.

But sadly, this profound legacy is being lost and slipping into oblivion. More deplorably, the heritage custodians are merely paying lip service to conservation.

And it can’t get any worse than this. Precious frescos of Panj Temple in Fategharh Churian, which have immense heritage value and date back 180 years, are blissfully being whitewashed out of ignorance even as the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), that has already documented the historical shrine, is yet to swing into action to preserve the treasure.

To one’s utter dismay, the 14 metal idols of Hindu deities, which were certified for antiquities by the state department of Cultural Affairs Archaeology & Museums, have also done a vanishing act in the past 11 years.
A sneak peek into its history will reveal that the temple was built by the daughter-in-law of Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Chand Kaur of Kanahaiya Misil, who put the Hindu deities on a high pedestal and used to worship in the temple every day. The temple also has paintings of Guru Nanak Dev with his two disciples Bala and Mardana.

“We don’t have enough resources to preserve the paintings, so we got some of the walls whitewashed — at least they look better now,” this is what one of the caretakers of the temple Usha Devi had to say. Usha’s father Vaid Hans Raj, an ayurvedacharya from Lahore College, was the mahant of the temple.

“Our forefathers had been safeguarding this place,” she said. Usha, a retired government school teacher, said she got all the metal, marble and stone idols registered. “Every idol was issued a certificate by the department of Cultural Affairs Archaeology & Museums. But I don’t know where the metal idols have gone, there are other relatives also who do sewa here?.”

One wonders how a so-called educated caretaker who knows quite a bit about the temple’s architectural gem can act in such an irresponsible manner! Whitewashed frescos, which talk volumes of the disregard for heritage, may never be restored to their original form.

Some of the idols are of Laddu Gopal, Garur Bell, Goddess Durga, Lord Krishna and His consort Radha. The wall paintings depict Lord Krishna seated on Kalia serpent and the tale of Matasya Avtar. Teams of archaeology department have visited and taken record of everything in the temple but they have done nothing beyond that. “The valuable paintings and idols could have been saved if the ASI had taken timely steps,” Usha said.

The sanctum sanctorum of the temple has idols of Lord Krishna and Goddess Vaishno Devi while the four other shrines constructed on all four corners have idols of Lord Ganesh, Lord Shiva, Lord Kartikae and Surya Dev on a common floor made of Nanakshahi bricks.

Many frescos have been recklessly whitewashed and due to carelessness many portions of the walls lie broken and their plaster has peeled off. New constructions have been made further squeezing the temple space. Hardly any tourist visits this place now.

Conservator Rajneesh Khosla said he had made the government aware about the existence of this historical temple and its decaying heritage following which a team of ASI visited it.

“This is a very significant temple but little known,” agreed Gurdev Singh, an archaeological officer. He said he had been to the temple, took records and have submitted his report with the government. Gurdev pointed out that the department was likely to take up the conservation of the temple soon. He also expressed deep concern over whitewashing of the frescos. “It is a national loss,” he rued.

It has been over a month since ASI took stock of the situation. However, nothing concrete has been done till now even as there is no end to the whitewashing exercise.

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